Why would they mutilate the covers by doubling them up like that?

Looks like they combined 2 mini-series to make one HC collection, e.g. Minutemen + Silk Spectre, so they wanted to represent both on the same cover.

Nice I've been waiting for these to get collected before reading them. I'll probably get them all eventually.

If you notice all those hardcovers pair them up by writer. They should lump the Moloch and Dollar Bill issues in with the Wein Ozy/CC book just because it's shorter than the other editions (DB is Wein too) and they don't seem to be represented. Maybe Moloch will end up in the JMS book.

and "Minutemen" (the event's best book) is finished. I challenge anyone to read it and say the concept of a Watchmen prequel without Alan Moore's participation is inherently doomed to failure because Darwyn Cooke did an amazing job that Moore would probably even respect if he wasn't so crazy.

I don't recall anyone arguing this, even before anything had been published.

I seem to recall several people arguing this, even to this day.

Last time I saw DC announcing a new issue on Facebook I didn't see any comments that weren't people bitching.

I actually can't remember a fictional work that has as much of a fundamental across-the-board bias against it. It's definitely out there. I'm certainly not making it up. Some stores even refused to stock the titles. But again, "Minutemen" is proof that it can be done right.

I can't find any mention on this thread of someone saying that they were inherently doomed to failure.

This appears to be the last announcement regarding a Before Watchmen title:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...51297880763485

There's a number of positive comments in there.

There's definitely controversy, but the people against it seem to mostly be so based on the principle of the matter, that it goes against at least one of the creator's wishes, that it's a cash grab by DC, and not based on whether the series would be or is any good.

A quote from the one store that said it wouldn't carry it:
http://robot6.comicbookresources.com...fore-watchmen/

I just read through the final issue of Minutemen and was ...disappointed.

Holy retcons, Batman!

Glad I didn't waste any money on this crap.

That is an awful retcon.

That's just taking an intentional piss on Moore and Gibbons (and considering Gibbons brushed off anyone ever taking the prequels seriously anyway, I wouldn't be shocked if they did do it intentionally), since the hinted at ending was brilliant.

It's actually handled about 100x better if you actually read through the series (you know, the one written by one of the industry's top talents) vs reading a spoilerized paragraph.

That is interesting. They'll continue to sell avengers, fantastic four, and superman but not before watchmen.

So did anyone actually read these? I just got through the entire series and while there are definitely some interesting things, Dr. Manhattan was the only one that was I felt was good. In fact, it was great.

I was waiting for them all to come out before starting. And now I have about a billion other things I want to read....

I think that with issue six of the Comedian that came out last week, they were all done. That's why I waited so long to read them.

I am waiting for the deluxe hardcovers or whatever DC decides to issue in collected format.

My local comic store bit the dust so I had to order the last 3 online. I'll have them on Friday.

I should have done this.

Ended up buying a few of the sets that my local shops had bundled for half price on FCBD.

What's the correct read order?

Depends. You can read them as separate minis or in release order if you're reading the "Crimson Corsair" back up.

Towards the end delays messed up the Crimson Corsair order. I think this only happened once. I wanna say one of the Moloch issues actually had skipped a CC and I waited a week or two for the late book to fill in the gap.

In any case, the Crimsom Corsair stories were numbered so you should have too much trouble figuring it out. The majority of them say what issue continues the story, only the last few installments dropped this and forced you to figure it out on your own.

Aside from that there were no real issues with reading one book before the others save for one: Minutemen has something of a twist ending (it's already been discussed in this thread) and that ending actually figures into the Nite Owl books. The twist itself isn't revealed in Nite Owl but it makes sense after you read Minutemen.

I'd probably recommend reading Nite Owl before Minutemen if you wanna experience the intentional ambiguity of that letter without knowing what it says.